Bust

Sanctuary - head on right - Albert

Erection date: 1854

Site: Westminster Sanctuary (4 memorials)

SW1, Broad Sanctuary, The Sanctuary, 1-8 Broad Sanctuary

The building is Grade II listed, a terrace of Bath stone buildings incorporating gateway to Dean's Yard. 1853-54 by Sir George Gilbert Scott. Some sources say these were built as houses which seems unlikely but they are certainly now used as offices.

Niches in the turrets, at first floor, house two very similar statues. The spandrels of the gateway are decorated with two roundels with portrait heads, one of which is crowned. These all seem to represent particular individuals but we can find no information, so we have to guess.

The statues are crowned and each clutches a model building, with slightly different fenestration. So we think they are the two kings central to the creation of Westminster Abbey: Edward the Confessor who, in 1042-52, (re)built St Peter's Abbey here, and Henry III who, in 1245, began the building of the current Abbey. Comparative beard lengths seem to corroborate our theory.

And the two heads must represent Victoria and Albert: the female wears a crown and the male doesn't, the date of the building, they even look like some of their portraits.

The memorial column in our photo is covered on its own page: Westminster School - old boys.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Sanctuary - head on right - Albert

Subjects commemorated i

Prince Albert

Born Schloss Rosenau, Coburg, Germany, as Albert Francis Augustus Charles Ema...

Read More

This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Sanctuary - head on right - Albert

Also at this site i

Nearby Memorials

Hogarth - Harrow on the Hill

Hogarth - Harrow on the Hill

HA1, Grove Hill, Art School

Looking to connect Hogarth with Harrow we found: c.1800 Crown Street in Harrow was named Hogarth Lane; and Hogarth painted the Graham Chi...

1 subject commemorated
Sir John Cass - Charity boy - bust

Sir John Cass - Charity boy - bust

EC3, Jewry Street, 31

Building by A. W. Cooksey, 1900. The small busts of the charity children recall the statues which flanked the original Cass statue in its...

1 subject commemorated
Noor Inayat Khan bust

Noor Inayat Khan bust

WC1, Gordon Square

The Guardian reports: "the first stand-alone memorial to an Asian woman in the UK" and elsewhere we read that it is "one of the few anywh...

War dead | WW2
3 subjects commemorated, 3 creators
RIPWC - De Wint

RIPWC - De Wint

W1, Piccadilly, 192-196

The building by E. R. Robson was erected for the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colour, founded in 1831 (the crest in the centre of...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Greenwich roundels - Howard

Greenwich roundels - Howard

SE10, King William Walk, Discover Greenwich (Royal Naval College, Pepys Building)

The roundels on the north, river-facing, frontage are occupied by, left to right: Anson, Drake, Cook, Howard, Blake, Benbow, Sandwich, Ro...

1 subject commemorated

Previously viewed

Duke of Westminster, 1st, Hugh Lupus Grosvenor

Duke of Westminster, 1st, Hugh Lupus Grosvenor

Son of the 2nd Marquess. Created Duke in 1874, mainly it seems for owning large chunks of London and being the head of the richest family in the UK. Country seat in Cheshire. From this Calendar we...

Person, Politics & Administration, Property

4 memorials
T. E. Walsby

T. E. Walsby

District Staff Officer in the St John Ambulance Brigade, No. 1 District, 1915-1948. Officer in the Order of St John.

Person, Emergency Services, Medicine, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Sir Henry Wellcome

Sir Henry Wellcome

Born Wisconsin, USA, moved to London in 1880 for business reasons. Pharmacist, founder of the Wellcome Trust and Foundation. His collection of books & artefacts relating to the history of medic...

Person, Benefactor, Industry, Medicine, Museums / Libraries, USA

1 memorial
Leonard Hodgkinson

Leonard Hodgkinson

Senior 4th Engineer on the RMS Titanic. A full résumé of his life can be found on the Encyclopedia Titanica website. He is also commemorated on the Engineers Memorial, Andrews East Park, Above Bar...

Person, Engineering, Tragedy

1 memorial
John Logie Baird NW9 - Stone

John Logie Baird NW9 - Stone

NW9, Kingsbury Road, Roe Green Park

The stone was erected on the base of one of Baird's television masts. Our picture is taken from the History of Kingsbury Manor website wh...

1 subject commemorated, 3 creators